Photo:MOU signing Ceremony

Meritorious students and lack of resources is a paining sight. Only Scholarships can encourage the bright to pursue quality education. It holds true to both professional and higher education. Would you please elaborate on the ‘scholarships offer’ that POSCO has made so far? Yeah! You are absolutely right. I have been an observer of the changing dynamics of Indian society. I completely

agree with you. POSCO in this one year has offered quite a few jobs and scholarships.
Research scholarships have been offered to Indian students, researchers and academicians to encourage research, aid higher education and promote academic collaboration between our two countries. On behalf of POSCO the POSCO TJ Park Foundation will award these scholarships to Indian students and priority would be given to the students of leading universities of Orissa.

Would you please specify the numbers and the institutions that are covered?

At least 60 meritorious students from India will be selected for The POSCO- TJ Park Scholarship Programme from the various institutes in Orissa and Delhi and they will receive an annual grant of $500 to be paid in a single installment. Fifty per cent of the total students will be from various reputed institutes of Orissa. Of the 30 students in Orissa, 15 will be from Utkal University, seven from KIITS Deemed University and eight from Biju Pattnaik University of Technology. Twenty students from Delhi University (DU), and 10 students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will be recommended for the scholarship. At the same time it also depends upon the response from these institutions.

What benefits would POSCO project bring in to India in general and Orissa in particular?

The POSCO-India project will contribute a large deal to the Indian community on a local and national level. The project is expected to produce foreign exchange inflows of US$22.7 billion with taxes and royalty incomes of US$19.1 billion for the central government and US$4.8 billion for the Orissa government.The local infrastructure in Orissa and neighboring regions are also expected to improve on a drastic level. The estimated employment opportunities generated by the project is approximately 48,000, both direct and indirect and 467,000 man-years of employment during the construction phase. Foreign exchange inflows of US$23 billion are projected, with taxes and royalty incomes of US$19.8 billion for the central government and US$4.1 billion for the Orissa government Our goal is to maintain results, while developing a better society and community here in Orissa.

What do you expect the Orissa Government to do at this point of time?

We are involved and very much on the field. We are waiting for the govt. nod to start our work or else the already decide schedule will be disturbed. I am not particularly aware about the govt.’s dealings with other companies and MOUs with them, but I am very sure that govt. will make note of our honesty and seriousness in approach. The government has to decide early on the issues of prospective license of mining and the R&R issue.

Any thought on the POSCO’s first anniversary?

This one year has been of mixed experience. There have been times we have been pained at the media reports. We learnt that due to POSCO there has been some division of in the rank and file of the political circle. But to be true to our intention we don’t want any fighting between and amongst Oriya people. We are here to bring development not conflict.

Given the experience of the first year of operation here how do you look at the coming year?

If we look back and give a thought on the time period that has passed, we find evenly poised to handle another year and then years ahead.